Tostones are a South American/Caribbean treat, similar to french fries or potato chips, made from unripe (green) plantains. Plantains look very much like bananas on the outside, but have a harder, starchier fruit on the inside. Also called "patacones" in some locations, they are fried, crushed, and then fried again, and are popular in many Central and South American countries. If you want to learn how to make delicious tostones, read on!

Ingredients

1-5 unripe (green) plantains

Vegetable oil

Water

Salt

Steps

1

Peel the skin from the plantains. Cut two slits down the length of the plantains and remove the fruit from the skin.

2

Cut the plantains into 1-inch pieces. If you wish, you can cut the plantains at a slight diagonal slant. This gives the plantain pieces more surface area, and better coverage, when fried.

3

Soak the pieces in salt water for a few seconds and dry completely.

4

Pour about an inch of vegetable oil into a pan and heat it until the oil is moderately hot, but not burning.

5

Place the plantain pieces into the pan and fry until light golden on one side, about 3 minutes.[1]

6

Flip the plantains, and fry for another 3 minutes until they turn golden but not crispy.

7

Take the plantains out of the pan, and drain them on a paper towel.

8

Crush the plantains with a heavy cup or flat-bottomed pan. Try to crush the plantains evenly, so that they are about 1⁄4 inch (0.6 cm) thick each time.

9

Soak the flattened plantain pieces in salt water for a few seconds.[2] Do this for two reasons:

This will make the tostones crispier on the next step.

This helps them from oxidizing or turning color. You want to serve tostones immediately if you can. For this reason, many cooks choose to do the first leg of frying ahead of time and then re-fry them immediately before serving. If you plan on doing this, dipping them in water will help maintain their color until you serve them.

10

Place the crushed plantains back into the oil and let them fry until crisp. This takes anywhere from 1 to 2 minutes

11

Take out the crushed plantains, drain them on a paper towel, and salt immediately.